


The Thieving Saga

by BlueRose430, DesertSnowQueen



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Confused Adrien Agreste, F/M, Kim Nino and Marinette friendship, Marinette steals things, it becomes a whole thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 20:58:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14702190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRose430/pseuds/BlueRose430, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertSnowQueen/pseuds/DesertSnowQueen
Summary: “What they’re saying isn’t true, is it?” Adrien asked, looking over at Nino with his brows furrowed. He felt like he was staring at an equation with an obvious solution, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t solve it.“Saying about what?” Nino asked, tilting his head to the side.“About Marinette. It can’t all be true, can it?” he asked.“Dude, she told you it was,” Nino said.“Well, yeah, I mean I know she said it was, but it’s just a prank, right?” Adrien asked. “I mean, I’ve seen her take things before, like when she planned to steal Markov back from Principal Damocles, but she didn’t actually do it because he got akumatized. Then there was the time when she took the SD card because Juleka wasn’t in the photos, but she took that to help a friend. And when she stole Chloe’s phone that day, it was because Chloe was going to use it to get her in trouble. And I guess I did see her steal that motorcycle helmet the day my bodyguard got akumatized, but again, she did that to help me...".Basically, Marinette steals things, the class is entertained, and Adrien needs a lot more luck.





	The Thieving Saga

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of [this tumblr post](https://mindfulmagics.tumblr.com/post/173866065418/the-thieving-saga) originally posted by my-miraculous-headcanons. The idea was just too fun for [BlueRose430](https://bluerose430.tumblr.com/) and [me](https://mindfulmagics.tumblr.com/) to pass up, so we're teaming up to write it.
> 
> *Also please note: stealing is wrong and we don't actually recommend you try anything that Marinette does in this fic.

“Morning, Nino!”

As usual, Adrien Agreste was a few minutes early to school. There were a few students milling about, some already walking inside, and some looked like they were still mostly asleep but couldn’t care less since they were on time.

“Hey, man! How are you?” Nino asked, jogging over to meet him. 

“A little tired, I was up all night working on that history project...”

“Same, I just can’t seem to remember - incoming!”

Adrien barely had a second to look over his shoulder before a dark-haired blur came barrelling down the street. Adrien smiled to himself, he only knew one girl who would be going that fast even when she was early: Marinette Dupain-Cheng. True to form, as soon as she passed by Adrien and Nino the girl stumbled over her own feet and Adrien lunged forward to catch her. 

“Gotcha!” 

Luckily, Adrien was able to catch Marinette before she went face-first into the pavement, not noticing her blush furiously at the feel of his arms around her middle.

“Are you ok, Marinette? You’re in quite a hurry today!”

“Adrien! Uh...heh...thank you! Good morning! You’re beautiful - I mean, it’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” 

Marinette quickly brushed herself off, her face continuing to burn bright red as she waved goodbye to Adrien and Nino and continued on her way to school. 

“Wow, she’s cute,” Adrien said absentmindedly.

“I thought she was just a friend?” Nino smirked.

“She is!” Adrien shot back. “There’s nothing wrong with thinking a friend is cute, right?” 

Nino snorted out a laugh. Adrien looked back to his friend and frowned. Something was...off. He felt like it was staring him in the face but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. 

“What? Is there something on my face?” Nino asked, starting to walk towards their classroom.

“No…you just look different,” Adrien said, studying him intently.

“Well, I didn’t do anything different,” Nino said. “Are you sure you’re not just going a little crazy?”

“Are you sure? Because I could have sworn…” Adrien trailed off as they reached the door to their classroom. “Did you do something different to your hair?”

“My hair? What are you talking about my hair for?” Nino asked, stepping inside. “I always wear…my…hat…”

Nino froze, one hand in his hair that was most definitely not covered by his hat, the other clutching his bag tightly. He was staring at the girl with the blue-black pigtails who was now wearing a very familiar red cap that Adrien was positive did not belong to her. Nino let out a long sigh.

“Again?” he asked, showing no signs of frustration or surprise. In fact, Adrien thought Nino almost seemed amused. Alya was doing her best not to laugh.

Marinette’s only answer was a bright smile as she touched the rim of the hat proudly. Nino shook his head and sat down, leaving Adrien completely confused.

“Did she take that? When did she take that?” Adrien whispered to his best friend. Nino snickered and shook his head.

“Probably when she crashed into you, or right before she left to find Alya,” he whispered back.

“How? I didn’t even notice,” Adrien said.

“She’s always done this. She’d stopped for a while there, and we all kind of thought she’d calmed down because she didn’t want to risk akumatizing someone, but I guess she’s back,” Nino said. “She has skills, though. She’s like magic, I don’t know how she does it.”

“She does this often?” Adrien asked, unable to believe that the sweet girl who sat behind her had a tendency to just take random things. Sure he’d seen her try to steal Max’s robot back from the Principal’s office…and saw her steal the SD card when Juleka missed the class photo…and Chloe’s phone…and that motorcycle helmet he wore when she helped him sneak into the movies the day Gorilla was akumatized…and Chloe had accused her of stealing her bracelet but that one wasn’t her, it was actually Plagg…

“She always gives everything back, so none of us really care. She just kind of borrows random things without people noticing?” Nino said. Adrien frowned.

“Hey Marinette,” Kim said as he walked into the classroom and up to his seat. “I see you’re back at it?”

“Hey Kim,” she said with a small wave, showing off the dark blue bracelet on her wrist. Adrien had never seen it before. It looked like it had some kind of compartment in it…it actually looked just like the object that held Syren’s akuma, now that he thought about it. He watched the smile fade from Kim’s face for half a second before it was back in full force.

“Okay, that was impressive,” he admitted. “I wasn’t even wearing it! How’d you get it out of my bag?”

Marinette just smiled and shrugged, turning to face the front as their teacher walked into the room. Adrien was more confused than ever. Who was this girl, and what had she done with Marinette?

.  
.  
.

The morning went by without any interruptions. Their teacher reminded them not to forget their notes the next day because they would have a review class for their test later that week. Adrien and Nino turned around to talk to the girls before everyone filed out for lunch. Marinette was sketching in her notebook while Alya was scrolling through the Ladyblog.

“So, Marinette,” Nino said. She looked up quickly and Adrien smiled. Her pretty blue eyes were wide as she looked at Nino. He must have startled her. “Are you really back at it? Or is this a one time return?”

“Oh, I um, I don’t know,” she said, her eyes flicking towards Adrien briefly before focusing back on Nino.

“I don’t think anyone would have a problem with it. In fact, I think most of the class has kind of missed it. It was like a game for a while, remember, Kim?” Nino said, leaning around Marinette to catch Kim’s attention. It seemed that most of the class, Chloe and Sabrina excluded, had decided to stick around. It was as if they were waiting for something. “The stunts Marinette used to pull?”

“Oh those were the best,” Kim said, laughing. Adrien shifted his attention to him. “None of us ever figured it out! Remember how she used to swap shoes with Rose?”

“I still don’t know how she did that,” Rose spoke up. “We were the same size so it wasn’t a big deal, but I never noticed her swap them? One minute, I’m wearing my shoes. The next time I look down, I’m wearing Marinette’s shoes and she’s sitting on the other side of the classroom. Mine were always back before I left school but I never noticed.”

Adrien’s eyes flicked to Marinette. Her cheeks were a light pink, her blush just bright enough to highlight the freckles scattered across her nose, but her lips had twitched up into a small, proud smile.

“That’s not even the most impressive,” Nino said, laughing. “Remember the time she swapped mine and Max’s glasses without either of us noticing? I think I was squinting for an hour before we realized what happened.”

“Nah, Nino, that definitely wasn’t the most impressive. I’ll never understand how she stole my hoodie while I was wearing it,” Kim said. At this point he was doubled over laughing, and the rest of the class was now listening in. Adrien caught a variety of amused smiles and smirks on their faces.

“Did you really, Marinette?” Adrien asked, turning to her. There was no way she had actually done all of that.

“Well, well, I mean, I just, you never really, I mean they never exactly, asked me not to, not that I actually kept anything because I always gave you, I mean gave it back, but I guess, yes?” Marinette stuttered, ducking her head back into her notebook.

Adrien frowned. It sounded like she had admitted to it, but she couldn’t have, could she? All of a sudden he heard Nino snicker.

“Hey, babe,” Nino said, catching Alya’s attention. She had been studying her best friend, and from the expression on her face Adrien thought she was trying to see if what their classmates were saying was true. She turned to Nino with a bright smile. “Nice shirt.”

“What?” she asked, her smile morphing into a frown. Adrien took a second to look at her shirt. She was wearing a white lace crop top over an orange tank with a black wifi symbol embroidered near her right hip. It looked good, and he could tell it had been stitched with care. The quality could rival his father’s work.

“Your top,” Adrien clarified when she still looked confused. “Is it new?”

“This is what I always…” Alya trailed off, looking down at her shirt in confusion. After a minute she looked up at Marinette, her eyebrows knitted together. “Marinette, this isn’t my shirt.”

“It’s cute, no?” Marinette asked in response, smiling brightly at her friend. “It fits you perfectly.”

“I love it,” she said slowly, and Marinette’s smile became impossibly brighter, “but I don’t remember changing.”

Marinette just waved her off, leaning in to look at some of the seams more closely. She seemed satisfied and scribbled a few things down in her notebook. Alya studied her, her jaw dropped in surprise.

“Did you…how?” she eventually asked. Kim and Nino burst out laughing, and Marinette just shrugged proudly.

Adrien’s mind was racing. Had he seen Alya wearing the flannel shirt that day? He couldn’t remember…he had been paying too much attention to Marinette to notice. Had Alya left the classroom to change at any point? No, not that he could remember. But she must have. There was no way Marinette could have changed her shirt in the middle of class without anyone noticing…was there? 

“The comeback we’ve all been waiting for! After almost two long years, she’s back!” Kim cheered, pumping a fist in the air. “Let the games begin!”

Marinette laughed as the rest of the class started clapping and cheering along with Kim, led by Nino. They all sounded a little ridiculous, and soon Adrien found himself laughing and clapping as well. Alya was still staring at Marinette with a calculating look. After a few minutes, everyone packed up their stuff and headed out of the classroom, splitting off into groups to go get lunch.

.  
.  
.

After lunch, Adrien was already sitting in his seat when the rest of his classmates returned. He could hear snippets of gossip as they walked past him. Though a part of him had been expecting it, he was still surprised to hear that everyone was having more or less the same conversation.

“What do you think she has planned?”

“Oooh, remember the thing with Alix?”

“The whole new outfit? With the leather skirt and the crop top?”

“Yeah! Hair, accessories and everything, it was wild!”

“I fully expect to see Alya and Nino suddenly dressed for a masquerade ball.”

“Maybe Adrien too.”

“Do you think she has that much power?”

“We haven’t seen her in action in two years. I don’t think any of us know what she can do anymore.”

“Hey, bro, you okay?” Nino asked as he sat down. “You seem like you’re thinking about something pretty hard.”

“What they’re saying isn’t true, is it?” Adrien asked, looking over at Nino with his brows furrowed. He felt like he was staring at an equation with an obvious solution, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t solve it.

“Saying about what?” Nino asked, tilting his head to the side.

“About Marinette. It can’t all be true, can it?” he asked.

“Dude, she told you it was,” Nino said.

“Well, yeah, I mean I know she said it was, but it’s just a prank, right?” Adrien asked. “I mean, I’ve seen her take things before, like when she planned to steal Markov back from Principal Damocles, but she didn’t actually do it because he got akumatized. Then there was the time when she took the SD card because Juleka wasn’t in the photos, but she took that to help a friend. And when she stole Chloe’s phone that day, it was because Chloe was going to use it to get her in trouble. And I guess I did see her steal that motorcycle helmet the day my bodyguard got akumatized, but again, she did that to help me. And okay, taking your hat and Kim’s swim bracelet thing I could maybe believe. I could believe she could pull that off. But like, she couldn’t have changed Alya’s top like that in the middle of class. It’s not possible, right?”

“Adrien, man, I don’t know what to tell you. You’ve seen her in action. Maybe not at her full power, but you’ve seen her. We’re not pranking you,” Nino said, shaking his head with an amused smirk.

“Are you sure?” Adrien asked, his eyes narrowing skeptically. “This isn’t some trick to see if one of us will get akumatized or something?”

“Adrien, why would any of us do that to you guys?” Nino asked, exasperated.

“I don’t know. We’re the only ones who haven’t been victims yet,” Adrien muttered, turning back to his notebook.

“We’re not trying to akumatize you,” Nino promised. “If anything, I think Marinette thinks that anyone in our class who hasn’t been akumatized yet, meaning you two, probably won’t be for anything less than a life or death situation.”

“I guess so,” Adrien said. “I still don’t know that I believe it’s her.”

“Whatever, man,” Nino said, reaching up to put on his headphones until class started. He started laughing when he realized they weren’t around his neck anymore.

Somehow, they had both missed Marinette walking into the room. Neither were sure when she arrived, but when Adrien turned around, she was sitting behind him wearing Nino’s headphones over the red cap, nodding her head along to whatever song she was listening to. She noticed them staring at her and shot Nino a cheeky grin.

“These headphones are great!” she said loudly, not bothering to take them off her ears. “The sound quality is super clear!”

“I know,” Nino said with an amused grin. “That’s why I bought them.”

She shot him a thumbs up and turned her attention to her sketchbook, bobbing her head to the beat as she added details to her latest design. Adrien watched her for a few moments before turning back to Nino.

“So, the chances that she didn’t hear any of that are…?” he asked.

“I’d say slim to none,” Nino said. “Sorry, dude. Good luck.”

“I don’t need luck,” Adrien muttered.

“If you say so,” Nino replied in a sarcastic, almost sing-songy tone. 

Marinette scribbled in her notebook, occasionally sneaking a glance at Adrien and Nino, trying to act like she couldn’t hear every single word they were saying. Adrien Agreste was many things to Marinette: a longtime crush, a close friend, and now...her new challenge.

_Oh Adrien..._ she thought, smiling to herself and twirling the lucky charm he had given her around her finger, _you’re going to need all the luck you can get..._


End file.
